


Akuma No Ryoushi

by Wayward_Gurl



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Charms, Demon Hunters, Demons, Divination, F/M, Gen, Isekai, Japanese Culture, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Miko - Freeform, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Painting, Shinto, Transmigration, Yôkai, akuma no ryoushi, canva, exorcist, half-japanese, priestess - Freeform, purify, turning water into sake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29643219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayward_Gurl/pseuds/Wayward_Gurl
Summary: Sato Eriko, “Ellie”, is a half-Japanese girl who moved to Japan at the age of 10 to live with her grandfather, who is a caretaker of a Shinto shrine.  On the side of being a kannushi, her grandfather is also an ‘akuma no ryoushi’, and in English, it translates to ‘Demon Hunter’.  For the next 5 years, she’s forced to learn from her ojiisan everything from demon-hunting to charms, divination, and preservation of yokai.  She couldn’t help but wonder if all of that training was in preparation for her to be isekai’d into the world of Thedas.  While Thedas should be glad of having an actual demon hunter in their world, it’s a whole another story when all the demons of Japanese mythology come flooding into their world as well.  Eriko has her work cut out for her.
Relationships: Undecided
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Demon Hunter Has Arrived

Akuma no Ryoushi

Sato Eriko, “Ellie”, is a half-Japanese girl who moved to Japan at the age of 10 to live with her grandfather, who is a caretaker of a Shinto shrine. On the side of being a kannushi, her grandfather is also an ‘akuma no ryoushi’, and in English, it translates to ‘Demon Hunter’. For the next 5 years, she’s forced to learn from her ojiisan everything from demon-hunting to charms, divination, and preservation of yokai. She couldn’t help but wonder if all of that training was in preparation for her to be isekai’d into the world of Thedas. While Thedas should be glad of having an actual demon hunter in their world, it’s a whole another story when all the demons of Japanese myth come flooding into their world as well. Eriko has her work cut out for her.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Dragon Age Series. I am also not Japanese, but I hope enough light novels, cultural reading, and research on Japanese customs would be enough to do this character justice.

*

Chapter 1

Demon Hunter Has Arrived

*

Before you say anything, _no!_ Truck-san did _not_ run me over. In fact, I didn’t die---at least, I don’t think I did.

All I remember was going to bed that night, and then waking up in a murky dream of a barren wasteland filled with a greenish mist, and lying next to me was a tawny-skinned man with silvery blonde hair and weird tattoo art on his face. I was startled to find myself sleeping on the ground next to a strange man, but he looked…injured. There was blood running down from the side of his temple, and it made me wonder what could have done that to hurt him, and if the danger was still around.

Deciding that this unconscious man was no enemy and was just as much as a victim as I was, I reached out, placing my right hand on his forehead and focused my chi on it. This was a secret art passed down from my family through the generations since the Edo-period as Ojiisan had claimed. After constantly practicing, I could feel the heat gathering instantly under my palm.

What I didn’t expect was the glowing factor that accompanied the heat. I pulled away quickly and the glow stayed behind for a brief moment. When it faded, the man started to move.

Quickly I got up and moved away, giving him space as he roused from his sleep.

“Are you okay…?” I asked him hesitantly in English since he didn’t look Japanese. It was more evident when his almond-shaped eyes opened, revealing verdant green eyes. He looked rather European, and yet so exotic with how his skin was dark, which is in stark contrast with his vivid-colored eyes and light-colored hair.

“Wh… what happened?” The British-like accent that accompanied his image was rather fetching. Oh, if only I was a few years older, I wouldn’t mind dating him. The slightly wrinkles and less fat around the cheeks told me he was probably in his late 20s or early 30s. Odd how he didn’t have a hint of facial hair.

“Who are you…?” The man asked, raising a brow at me, who was staring at him the entire time.

Crossing my arms defiantly, I turned my head. “Usually, you’re supposed to give your name first before asking another person’s name, _mister_.”

He stared at me incredulously, accompanied with a blink. Then he stood up, dusting himself off, before holding his hand out to me. “I’m Mahanon. And you?”

“…Eriko,” I answered as I reached out to shake his hand.

We shook hands firmly before letting go, and then he said, “If we were in better circumstances, I’m sure our introduction would have been better, but for now, do you…know where we are?”

“Nope,” I bluntly answered. “I was gonna ask _you_ about it, but looks like we’re both clueless.”

“Huh.” Mahanon then turned away and surveyed around surroundings, which wasn’t much. It made me wonder how we’re going to get food and water if there was nothing out here for us to survive off.

Meanwhile, I mulled over his outfit. I mean, I’ve been living in Japan for five years now, and I’ve seen a lot of things. There were always those unique individuals that would dress up, and I have nothing against them. I do me and you do you, so long as you’re not hurting anyone or breaking any laws. If you want to go walk around in a Power Rangers outfit, or dress up as a maid, or even live everyday as a Lolita, then go for it! I have nothing against that! 

It’s just that it’s my first time seeing something so… _authentic._ Mahanon really seemed like he came out of a DnD campaign as some sorcerer-elf or elven thief, whichever. The long ears look so naturally real---OH MY GOD! They’re _twitching!_ How did he make them twitch!?

“There!” He suddenly said, pointing upwards and I could see a bright glowing phenomenon in the distance. “We should probably head there.”

He looked to me, waiting for my input, and I nodded. “Yeah. Better than waiting here.”

He nodded to me and walked ahead first with me following a step behind. I don’t know if it was our personalities or the strange atmosphere of the area, but we were both…calm. I’ll be honest. I felt too sick to feel anything else. Like, when you start driving a car and you feel so anxious, but then you don’t feel it anymore because your own driving was making you sick? Yeah. That nauseating feeling that deterred any panic.

We walked a short distance to the light on the top of a cliff, and when we reached the steep hill, we heard a disturbing bat-like screech from behind us. We both turned and to my horror, more than a hundred giant fucking spiders were skittering at a horrifying pace towards our way.

“RUN!!” I screamed as I took off first and grabbing the man’s arm to pull him along. He followed in haste after recovering from the nasty surprise.

We climbed as fast as we could when the hill got steeper, and in front of us, there was an old woman, glowing brightly wearing a strange funny hat.

“Hurry!” she shouted, holding her hand out.

“Go! _Quickly!_ ” Mahanon shouted, his hand touching my back to support me when I slipped for a moment.

When I had my back turned, I saw a flash of light and felt the heat of cinders coming from behind me. Turning around, I witnessed fire flooding out like a torrent out from the palm of his hand, burning away the spiders that got too close. They were hit and they fell, knocking the others down, giving us more time to climb. For a moment, I was frozen in shock at what I just witnessed. How… how did he…?

“What are you doing?! Move!” Mahanon prompted me to climb faster.

I reached the top and grasped the old woman’s hand, who helped me up. Mahanon came next and we both pulled him up.

“We must hurry!” The old woman with the funny hat said as we rushed over to a green swirling portal. Never mind where it would lead; it was better through some place unknown rather than dealing with all those ugly spiders.

Turning back once, I saw the spiders had just reached the top cliff. Oh shit!

As soon as we got to the rift, something sinister yelled from the sky and a strange black tendril shot out from the hoard of spiders, latching on to the old woman’s ankle. Mahanon grabbed her in time before she could be snatched away. I also grabbed on to her robe, pulling her.

She looked back, seeing the spiders coming for us and then faced us. “You have to let me go!”

“That’s not happening---what are you doing?!” Mahanon demanded when I let the woman go and instead ran behind her.

I summoned all my chi to my hand, surmounting it with enough pressurized energy force. To my surprise, it started to glow but I didn’t have time to inspect. I karate-chopped the tendril, and unexpectedly it cut through easily like a hot knife through butter. From the sky, that same thundering voice roared out in pain as the separated-tentacle lurched back behind the arachnid forces.

The old woman was freed and quickly we rushed and fell right through the portal.

*

“How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t remember! And I’m sure _she_ doesn’t remember either!”

Noisy… who’s being so loud?

When I stirred from my sleep, I saw three people standing around in this country-homey room with the fireplace lit vigorously to keep the cold away. They hadn’t notice yet that I was awake as I took the time to analyze the strange scene unfolding before me. That same man with elf-ears was there in the same get-up, but talking with him were two women also in European medieval armor. One lady had a scar across her left cheek, short black hair with a crown-style braid, and wearing a metal-plated armor that had a flaming-eye on her chest plate. The other had reddish, ginger hair with sharp green eyes that I almost mistook her for hardcore Jean from X-men, but she was wearing a hooded-robe over her armor that made her look shady. Out of the three, she’s the one I wouldn’t want to mess with.

Still… I’m surrounded by cosplayers. Maybe there was a convention going on?

“There really isn’t much I could tell you other than us escaping the fade,” Mahanon said to them, answering whatever questions they had.

“Well then, shall we ask her?”

I flinched a bit under the sheets when the redhead referred to me. Somehow, she knew I was awake without even glancing over, or did I miss that? All eyes were now on me, and Mahanon was the first to move to my side.

“How are you?” He asked with genuine concern on his expression. _What a good guy!_ I thought.

“I-I’m well---NNAAHHHHHHHHH!!”

A scream escaped my lips when an unbelievable amount of pain shot through me from the palm of my left hand. I clutched it tightly as I started to notice there were green sparks flying about under the covers. I sat up quickly and pulled out my hand to see that there was some sort of light. When the sparks died down and the pain was just throbbing through my arm, I opened up my left palm and it revealed a _tear_. It was as if my hand became the very fabric of reality, and something had right through it, revealing intrinsic network some otherworldly dimensions filled with many shades of green.

It was… the weirdest shit ever. The pain was no joke.

“What… What is this…?!” I asked as I felt the panic rising within me.

The other two women had already gathered around me when I alarmed them with my scream. It was really fucking painful. I had never been on the other end of a gun taser, but it had to be related to such a feeling, only instead of pulsing electricity, it was the attack of a million needles cutting through the skin and piercing the bone.

Mahanon had knelt on one knee, getting below my eye-level as he placed a hand on my bedside, respecting boundaries and yet that was comfort enough for me.

“ _That_ is something we need to talk to you about, da’len,” he said. 

_Da’len?_ He must know that’s not my real name, but maybe it’s like a reference term like how Mexicans would use the term _chamaco_ for a preadolescent boy.

“Where are we? And who are they?” I asked, still clutching my hand tightly in case another attack was coming.

“We are in Haven, my lady,” the crown-braid woman said, and I looked at her weirdly for the term. The word Haven had yet to register in my head, but that had to be somewhere in Europe, right? Like probably the UK. Or maybe she meant sanctuary.

“There was an explosion at the Conclave--”

_Wait._ Say what?

“Only you, the Dalish, and the Divine survived the blast,” she finished, watching my expression closely.

“…There was an explosion…?” I asked then I turned my head away, thinking back on what I could remember. Ojiisan and I went with his friend and his family to Hiroshima for the best viewing spot of cherry blossoms, and for the hanami picnic. I couldn’t remember anything else after that day, nor do I recall any bombs in some ‘haven’. “…There was an _explosion?”_

She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and looked at me with a skeptic brow. When there’s something I don’t understand, I tend to repeat that same question slower with more emphasis.

“You were there,” this time the redhead spoke, peering her green eyes over me like she was looking through my soul. “How it began? What do you recall at the Temple?”

“I---I didn’t visit any temple that day,” I told them. “I was just having a picnic with my grandpa and his associate.”

There was a long moment of silence in the room as three of them looked at me with gaping mouths. What? What did I say? I know the explosion is extremely serious, and I know since it’s something that happened often in America, though not as much as mass-shooting.

Finally, Mahanon let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t think you’ll get anything from her either,” he said to the women in armor. “Her amnesia is worse than mine.”

Amnesia? Oh yes. That aptly fit my situation right now. I couldn’t remember a damn thing on how I ended up from my bedroom to some highly authentic medieval setting with all these cosplayers surrounding me. Honestly, I should be panicking!! But, alas, I felt too sick to my stomach. Plus, panicking never helps the situation.

The crown-braid woman sighed heavily as she placed a hand on the other lady’s shoulder. “Go to the Forward Camp. I will take the suspects to the rift.”

_Rift?_

The ‘Leliana’ looked at me for a moment before turning around and walking off, exiting through the door where a flurry of snow flew right in---wait… _WHAAAATT?!?_ Was it not _APRIL!?_ Am I NOT in Japan anymore?!

I felt my stature trembling and I grip my hand tighter, telling myself to calm down. Calm down. Do not panic. Calm down.

“W…What happened?” I finally mustered the strength to ask.

She threw a sad gaze over me, saying, “It would be better to show you.”

As I got out of bed, I realized someone had changed me. I was in warmer clothing with soft fur lining and wax-coated leather that was akin to water-resistant. We exited the cabin and I was shocked to find myself in some GoT village setting in freezing winter, but that’s not even half of the shock that I was struck with.

What got me was the giant swirling hole in the sky, storming about with lightning and flying, flaming debris that was crashing on the snowy mountains. Huh. Something tells me I’m not on earth anymore.

Holy f--… _please_ , don’t tell me I’ve been _isekai’d_ …

“We call it the _Breach_ ,” she said. “It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It’s not the only such rift. Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave.”

A world of… _demons?_ What? So that hole is passage to the other side? That’s… that’s not good. And it’s getting larger? I don’t think I’ll be able to take on that many demons unless I was better prepared. Still. An explosion did _that?_ No way. _How_ could it cause that? I’ve seen the videos of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I’ve read many literatures pertaining to those events as they were assigned in school. I’m not comparing the two incidents, but the atomic bombing was more devastating and it didn’t tear the heavens in the sky apart.

“Unless we act, the Breach may grow until it swallows the world.”

Then there was a rumbling in the sky as the breach let out another powerful boom that resonated with the strange glowing thing on my hand. That didn’t bode well for me as it shocked me again like a million searing needles. The pain was so much, I nearly passed out, but Mahanon was right behind me. He grabbed me and helped lowered me to the ground, supporting me. I only clutched my hand tighter as if it would stop the pain from coming.

Crown-braid knelt down to meet my eyes. “Each time the breach expands, your _mark_ spreads… and it _is_ killing you.”

_Maji de!?_ This thing is killing me?!

“It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn’t much time.”

“This thing? This _mark_ can stop that---how am I supposed to close _that??_ ” I asked incredulously. “That hole is HUGE! I don’t even know what this thing is, or _how_ I got it, or if it’s even gonna close that!”

It’s been a while, but my Japanese accent was making my English words sound weird. Thankfully, they still understand what I was saying.

“It is our only chance,” she said to me. “And yours.”

Right. Because this thing is slowly killing me too. I could feel it. I felt like my soul was being siphoned by this mark.

_UGH! You know what?! Fine! Just fine!!_

“…I’ll do it,” I answered in defeat.

She nodded to me as she stood up.

“Come on. On your feet, da’len,” Mahanon said to me as he carefully helped me up and I humbly accept his support as I got back on my feet, still a bit shaky.

I still remembered how he was able to summon fire from the palm of his hand. That sort of thing isn’t really possible for a human to do, is it? Regardless, his power had hurt the demonic spiders in the beyond. “Will you…accompany us?”

“Naturally.” He answered.

“I don’t think so,” crown-braid said as she crossed her arms, giving the elf-dressed man a look.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Look, Seeker Cassandra, I’ve been extremely cooperative with you, and that’s already asking a lot for a Dalish elf like me to tolerate and take orders from _shem_. We brought your Divine alive out of the fade, and you still suspect us? You would send a child out there in the blizzard with demons loitering about? She would get easily killed, and no matter how you make yourself out to be, she could die out there.”

“And what’s to stop you both from running?” ‘Seeker Cassandra’ asked.

“I won’t run!” I told her. “I’m not running from anything, let alone demons! I’m a demon hunter, you know!”

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that last part, but they both looked at me oddly.

“ _Demon hunter?”_ They both questioned in unison.

“ _Akuma no ryoushi_ ,” I said. “Demon hunter. I can fight demons.”

“That… that’s preposterous! Who would train a child to fight demons?” She asked me, and I was a bit surprised. Normally, people would say there’s no such thing as demons, and although I know she said that demons were pouring out from the breach, meaning demons exist in this world, it’s a stark contrast when compared to Earth.

“It’s a family tradition, but regardless, I can’t do it alone!” I said. “This guy can shoot out fire from the palm of his hands!”

Seeker Cassandra gave me another incredulous look with a touch of disbelief, even Mahanon was gaping at me. Ugh. I guess no matter where I am people will always look at me like I’m weird, and they’ll think that I’m lying. I better watch out for future vandalizing acts. I don’t really know how the pecking-order works here.

When it seemed like I wasn’t convincing her, I changed tune. “Like Mahanon said, I am only a child, and I could seriously die out there! No joke! What will happen if we’re outnumbered? You did say _this_ ,” I held up my hand. “—Was the key into closing the breach! If I die, what’s gonna happen to you all?”

“Enough,” Seeker Cassandra said, waving her hand dismissively, though she was wearing a miserable expression. “You’ve made your point. Let’s just… hurry.”

As I followed her out of Haven with Mahanon following from the back, I couldn’t help but to worry over the fact that I’ve been transmigrated over to another world. This is clearly bullshit. Maybe I got into an accident and fell into a coma. Now, because of all the light-novel series that I’ve been reading that was about reincarnation, my brain had decided to conjure up this DnD fantasy nightmare.

Except that I can feel pain. I can feel breathing, and I know what dreaming feels like. There are times when I am lucid in dreaming, so I can definitely tell the difference between dreams and reality. In conclusion, this isekai-shit is real.

So then…

“Status.” I said aloud.

No window message popped up. I figured…

The Seeker turned around when she heard me. “What?”

“…Sorry. It was nothing.”

She looked at me like ‘I’m weird’ for a while, and I didn’t even want to see how Mahanon was looking at me. All I know was that I made a fool out myself.

Without the two saying anything more, we kept going. The whole time, I kept calling myself, ‘baka’.

*


	2. Sato, Eriko

This is simply a chapter the showcase a collage defining her. :)

The character was created using the Black Desert Online character creator. :3


End file.
